Overview
Synopsis
In the kooky, upside-down world of the Addams Family, to be sad is to be happy, to feel pain is to feel joy, and death and suffering are the stuff of their dreams. Nonetheless, this quirky family still has to deal with many of the same challenges faced by any other family, and the spookiest nightmare faced by every family creates the focus of Lippa, Brickman, and Elice’s musical: the Addams kids are growing up. The Addamses have lived by their unique values for hundreds of years, and Gomez and Morticia, the patriarch and matriarch of the clan, would be only too happy to continue living that way. Their dark, macabre, beloved daughter Wednesday, however, is now an eighteen-year-old young woman who is ready for a life of her own. She has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a sweet, smart boy from a normal, respectable Ohio family — the most un-Addams sounding person one could be! And to make matters worse, she has invited the Beinekes to their home for dinner. In one fateful, hilarious night, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must face up to the one horrible thing they’ve managed to avoid for generations: change.
Show Information
Context
Work began on The Addams Family in 2007, when producers first gained rights to write a musical about these beloved characters from the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. Producers then tapped Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice to write the book for the musical; the two had previously collaborated on Jersey Boys. Andrew Lippa was brought in to write music and lyrics. Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott, founders of the London-based company Improbable Theatre, were hired to direct and design.
to read the context for The Addams Family: Young@Part and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
(“Addams Family Theme/Overture”)
The eccentric, morbid, fun-hearted Addams family — patriarch Gomez, his wife Morticia, their children Wednesday and Pugsley, Grandma, Uncle Fester, and servant Lurch — are celebrating their yearly ritual of summoning their ancestors from the dead. As they do so, they explain to the audience what it means to be an Addams: one must have a sense of humor, a taste for death, passion, and must stir --always stir-- things up. The Addamses summon their ancestors by
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Character Portrayals
See StageAgent members who have performed roles in The Addams Family: Young@Part.
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Songs
- * “When You’re an Addams” — Addams Family, Ancestors
- “Fester’s Manifesto” — Fester
- “Pulled” — Wednesday, Pugsley
- “One Normal Night” — Company
- “Gomez’s ‘What If’” — Gomez
- “What If” — Pugsley
- “Full Disclosure” — Company
- “Full Disclosure (Part 2)” — Company
- * “Just Around the Corner” — Morticia, Ancestors
- “The Moon and Me” — Fester, Female Ancestors
- “Crazier Than You” — Wednesday, Lucas, Mal, Alice
- “Live Before We Die” — Gomez, Morticia
- * “Tango de Amor” — Morticia, Gomez, * Ancestors
- “Bows/When You’re An Addams (Encore)” — Company
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
THEMES
The Inevitability of Change and Growing Up
The musical centers on the tension between tradition and transformation, as the Addams family—accustomed to centuries of unchanging macabre bliss—confronts Wednesday's maturation into an 18-year-old woman in love and seeking independence. This theme manifests in her engagement to Lucas Beineke, prompting parental anxieties about losing their "dark" daughter, Gomez's bittersweet reflection on her growth in "Happy/Sad," and Morticia's
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Directorial Vision
The Addams Family lives or dies on the balance between its macabre comedic style and its genuine heart. While audiences come for the iconic, quirky ghoulishness, the show is fundamentally an intimate domestic comedy about family, growing up, and the terror of change.
The central directing challenge is preventing the show from devolving into a series of disconnected gag sketches. One effective approach is to anchor the entire production around the concept of unconditional love tested by truth. The Addams clan embraces everything painful or dark, yet they struggle with ordinary human secrets. Treat the bizarre humor as the family’s normal baseline rather than an inside joke with the audience; the comedy lands much harder when the actors play the eccentricities with absolute sincerity and high emotional stakes.
Biggest Directing Challenges
- __Managing Tone
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